Lonely Planet Latin American Spanish Phrasebook (Lonely Planet Latin American Spanish Phrasebook)

Rating:
Summary: Looks great, but was of very little use
Review: Everything about this phrase book looks great - it seems well designed and seems to carry the right information.

The only problem is that whenever I opened it to look up something I didn't understand, I didn't find it in this book. Not once!

Here are some examples:

- I wanted the Spanish word for "delivery". Nowhere to be found, not in the mail section, nor in the dictionary.

- I was using an ATM and one of the choices was "Ahorro" and I had no idea what that was. But this book was no help, not in the banking section, nor in the dictionary. (The word means "savings", by the way.)

- I was in a restaurant and on the menu was "mole sauce". This was not in the menu section of the book, nor in the dictionary. It turns out that it is a non-sweet chocolate sauce for meat.

These are only a few examples. In every case, the book was no help.

However, the book has some strange phrases like "I want to marry you". Why would you need a phrasebook for that? Would you really want to marry someone whom you could not communicate well enough with to ask them to marry you?

In short, the overall organization of the book is great, but the choice of content is poor.

Not recommended.

Rating:
Summary: An Essential Companion to South/Central American travel
Review: For someone who has just returned from South America after 3 months travelling, I have to say that this book was a "life-saver" on many occasions and made my time there much easier than perhaps it could have been.

The phrasebook has a complete listing of words for any situation: from "Menu Decoders" to "Booking a Room at a hotel", and from "Market Barterring" to even "Political or Philosophical discussions".

Perhaps, however, the most amusing chapter in the phrasebook has to be the "Dating and Romance" section where everything from "Can I buy you a drink" to "Can I take you home" and finally "Will you marry me" is translated!

This book also, very importantly, takes into account dialectical variations of words and often includes different regional variations on certain translations.

If you cannot be bothered with looking for a topic/chapter, then there is an really conveniant, concise two-way dictionary at the back - which has the translation of virtually every word you would need to know on your travels.

On my travels I came into contact with many fellow travellers with a whole range of different phrase books, however this one was certainly the best that I have come across. And more importantly, it is a POCKET phrasebook which means that you can keep it in your pocket so that it is easily accessable.

This book, along with a general travel guide of the area, is absolutely essential for anyone who is thinking of travelling to South/Central America, and who is not completely fluent in Spanish.

An essential companion.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect size to always have on you...
Review: I have traveled all over Mexico with this book in my back pocket. It has an execellent grammar/verb conjugation review section for those who know some Spanish but can't always remember. The phrases are logically grouped and reflect real situations. The phrases can easily be dissected and put back together to fit almost any situation. Lonely Planet did an excellent job of squeezing a lot into a pocket size book.